A potential alternative in the electric utility

Abstract:

A fully mature fuel cell industry constitutes a potential opportunity to electric utilities. Itcould meliorate the technical and financial performance of existing distribution lines byimproving service quality and reliability.When fuel cells connect to the power system, both the owner of the energy resource andthe central power system benefit. Reliability increases for both because they can support eachother.However, the interconnection of fuel cell plants to the grid is still hindered by restrictiveconditions and procedures for grid connection. Problems arise with regard to determination ofthe point of connection, safety and stability issues. Most important it is needed to establish astandardized technical interface for allocation of connection that take into account possiblepositive effects of distributed generation on transmission and distribution losses.At last, the aim would be the substitution of conventional coal-fired generation withIntegrated Gasification Combined Cycle plants that integrate fuel cells and gas turbines. Thischapter studies the use of distributed resources for ancillary services and simulating theimpact of distributed resources on utility distribution networks. © 2007 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Año de publicación:

2007

Keywords:

• hybrid systems
• BIOMASS
• Electric system stability
• distributed generation
• fuel cells

Fuente:

scopus